Day 28: The Strip – Las Vegas, NV

byEric FredericksonJuly 29, 2007

The number 3 top photo of this series is a true shocker: Las Vegas. Why is Las Vegas a shocker, you ask? Well, because I really don’t consider Las Vegas to be walkable at all. In fact, I think it’s one of the least walkable cities in the US. The region is plagued by sprawl – in the middle of the desert. Not a good plan for utility resource management. Nor the billions of dazzling lights and the grandiose car-oriented scale of the Las Vegas Strip. I almost choked when I read that Las Vegas was selected as a top 10 walking city. This proves that the list has no credibility.

With that said, there are some great examples of pedestrian design and some really beautiful sights to behold. This photo really stuck out to me because of the lights and the way the people turned out in the photo. It’s kind of haunting in a way to me.

Perhaps Las Vegas is a good lesson for those that aren’t familiar with walkable neighborhoods. Great sidewalks and design does not a walkable neighborhood make. There is a lot more to it—like mixes of uses, higher residential density, small setbacks—all of these are things Las Vegas doesn’t have much of. Plus, I hate being forced to enter casinos to continue walking down a sidewalk or to use a pedestrian bridge to cross the street—something that Las Vegas is very good at. Perhaps it does keep pedestrians safer, but for a city lover like myself, it’s a deal breaker.